Parshat Tetzaveh: Double Identity
by Rabbi Lobel

(Exodus; Chapter 28, Verse 2) “You shall make a garment of sanctity for Aaron your brother, for glory and for splendor.”

Nachmanidies says Aaron's clothing represented royalty. Aaron was to wear clothes fit for a king to signify his exalted position. As High Priest of the Tabernacle, the person directly serving G-d, Aaron needed appropriate attire.

The Me'il, one of the High Priest's garments, was made like a sleeveless shawl with a neck opening made of turquoise wool. On the bottom of the Me'il were pomegranates of turquoise wool, scarlet wool, and purple wool. Between each two pomegranates were golden bells. The Torah explains the reason for the golden bells, “it's sounds shall be heard when He (the High Priest) enters the Sanctuary before G-d and when He leaves, and He will not die (Exodus 28:35).”

Nachmanidies comments that nobility did not place bells on their garments. The purpose of the bells was so that Aaron would not enter the sanctuary, G-d's house, unexpectedly. The High Priest, so to speak, needed permission from his master to enter and leave the Tabernacle. Unless he achieved the proper level of humility, what the Me'il and its bells helped reinforce, Aaron would risk death.

A person, with such a position, who represented the entire Jewish people when serving G-d, had to wear clothing “for glory and for splendor”, needed the utmost humility, and had to ask permission, before entering the Tabernacle.

Only a person who can be both leader and humble servant is qualified to represent the nation. All leadership positions entail difficult tasks. Perhaps the most hardest part is not “letting it go to your head.”